Rules and policies¶
Who does this: Academic Administrator Where: School → Configuration How often: Once at setup, then whenever a rule changes
This is the part of the system that most schools expect to need a developer for. It does not. The conditions a school puts on documents, residency permits and VAT are rows in a table, edited by the school, taking effect immediately.
Three tables do this work:
| Table | Answers |
|---|---|
| Document Types | What kinds of document does the school hold? |
| Document Requirements | Who has to produce which of them, and when? |
| Nationality Policies | Which nationalities are treated differently, and how? |
Document types¶
A document type is a kind of paper: a passport, a birth certificate, a driving licence, a bus insurance certificate.
For each type you record:
- Who it belongs to — a student, a guardian, a member of staff, a driver or a vehicle.
- Whether it has a number — a passport does, a school report does not.
- Whether its expiry is tracked — a residency permit expires; a birth certificate does not.
- Whether it is the residency document — see below.
Why one type is flagged as the residency document
A nationality policy can waive "the residency document" without the school ever having to name it. Change country, change the name of the permit, and nothing in the rules has to be rewritten: the school ticks the flag on whichever document type plays that part.
The common types arrive already set up. Add whatever else the school holds.
Document requirements — the conditional rules¶
A requirement row says: this document · is needed by these people · in these circumstances.
Every condition is optional, and an empty condition simply does not narrow the rule.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Document | Which document type the rule is about |
| Applies To | Student · Guardian · Staff · Driver · Vehicle |
| Only These Nationalities | Restricts the rule to the nationalities listed |
| Except These Nationalities | Excludes the nationalities listed |
| Only These Grades | Restricts the rule to certain grades |
| Gender | Any, male or female |
| Transport | Any · uses the school bus · does not use the school bus |
| Requirement | Mandatory · Optional · Not Required |
| Blocks Enrolment | Enrolment is refused until this document is uploaded and verified |
| Track Expiry | The document joins the expiry watch list for its population |
"Not Required" is a real setting¶
It is how a school switches off, for a narrow group, a document a broader rule made mandatory. A rule that makes a residency permit mandatory for everyone, plus a Not Required rule for three nationalities, is the whole policy in four rows — and a fourth nationality added next year is one more row.
Rules a school will actually write¶
| The school wants | The rule |
|---|---|
| A medical report from Grade 1 children | Document: Medical Report · Applies to: Student · Only These Grades: Grade 1 |
| A transport consent form from bus users | Document: Transport Consent · Applies to: Student · Transport: Uses School Transport |
| No residency permit from three nationalities | Document: Residency Permit · Requirement: Not Required · Only These Nationalities: the three |
| A driving licence on file for every driver | Document: Driving Licence · Applies to: Driver · Track Expiry: yes |
| Nobody enrolled without a birth certificate | Document: Birth Certificate · Applies to: Student · Blocks Enrolment: yes |
How a rule reaches a child's file¶
Rules are not copied onto children when you write them. They are resolved when a child's checklist is built or refreshed, so a rule you write in March applies to the file you open in March. Press Refresh Checklist on a student or an application to re-resolve it. See Document checklists.
Nationality policies¶
One row per nationality that needs different treatment. Each records:
| Setting | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Residency Document Required | Whether this nationality must produce the residency permit |
| Alternative Documents | What the school accepts in its place — typically a passport, a birth certificate or a border number |
| VAT Treatment | Standard VAT · Exempt / zero-rated · Government-borne |
The system never fails open¶
A nationality with no policy row gets the strict treatment
Residency document required. Standard VAT. The absence of a rule is never read as permission — not on document control, and not on tax.
A promise the system will not let the school half-make¶
If a policy says a nationality is exempt or government-borne, but the tax treatment behind it has not been set up in the accounts, the policy is flagged as incomplete. It is not refused at the point of saving — the finance office often cannot finish this until the chart of accounts is ready — but the system will refuse to raise an invoice for a child it cannot bill correctly.
The failure lands where the money is at stake, not where the configuration was typed.
Whose nationality counts¶
The child's, not the payer's. VAT treatment is decided by the student's nationality and stamped on the invoice, because one guardian can have children of two nationalities and the bill has to be right for each of them.
Visa types¶
School → Configuration → Visa Types is an empty list on purpose. The school fills it with the visa types it actually issues staff against, rather than inheriting a guess that somebody then has to notice and delete.